Excise officials on Wednesday booked cases against three persons in connection with the smuggling of 11,440 litres of extra neutral alcohol from Karnataka to Malappuram.
Those accused are Muhammed Basheer of Poolakkathody; Musthafa of Pattammel, owner of the vehicle; and Ibrahim of Puthiya Veedu, driver, all hailing from Malappuram district.
The Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotic Special Squad seized the consignment from a container truck reportedly parked at Ponkuzhy on the Kerala-Karnataka border on May 5.
An invoice found in the vehicle revealed that the contraband was being transported from Mandya in Karnataka to a chemical factory in Malappuram district in the name of manufacturing hand sanitisers. But the spirit was transported without a valid permit or NOC of the Excise Department, Sojan Sebastian, Assistant Excise Commissioner, Wayanad, said. The department got the test results from the Regional Chemical Laboratory in Kozhikode on Wednesday and it clarified that the specimen collected from the consignment was extra neutral alcohol, Mr. Sojan said.
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